Article Archive for Year 2007

The year 2008 has been chosen by the United Nations General Assembly to inter alia be the International Year of Languages, the International Year of the Potato, the International Year of Planet Earth, and the International Year of Sanitation.

In an effort to ease the free movement of the citizens of the European Union, land and sea border controls with the new member States (i.e. Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia) are being lifted today 21 December 2007 (air borders will follow in March 2008). After it was determined that the nine Schengen candidate countries had met the …

British NGO War on Want published in November 2007 a comprehensive report on the role of British mining companies in conflict and the violation of human rights. The Report explicitly mentions the following British corporations: Anglo America, AngloGold Ashanti, BHP Billiton, Global Coal Management, Montericco Metals, Oxus Gold, Sibuyan Nickel Property Development Corp., Vedanta Resources and Xstrata. You can read report and company’s responses here. In …

Introduction
This is a short commentary of the judgment on preliminary objections based on the ICJ’s press release No. 2007/30 of 13 December 2007. The case was brought before the ICJ by Nicaragua on 6 December 2001. Nicaragua argued that the dispute concerned inter alia the validity of the 1928 Treaty, the interpretation of the 1928 Treaty as regards the geographical scope of the San Andrés …

13/12/2007 – 1:09 pm
| Comments Off on House of Lords decides on detention without trial by UK forces in Iraq

On 12 December 2007, the United Kingdom House of Lords, issued a long awaited judgment in the case of R (on the application of Al-Jedda) v Secretary of State of Defence [2007] UKHL. Al-Jedda was a national of both Iraq and the UK who had been detained in October 2004 by UK forces operating in Iraq as part of the multinational force authorised by …

13/12/2007 – 9:15 am
| Comments Off on Signing ceremony of the Treaty of Lisbon

Today the Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on the European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community will be signed in Lisbon. The ceremony, at which all 27 heads of State and government of the European Union as well as the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering and the president of the European …

Today (10th December) the world celebrates Human Rights Day. The event is meant as a commemoration of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) which took place on 10 December 1948. Based on the fact that by next year the adoption of the UDHR was 60 years ago, Human Rights Day 2007 marks the start of a year-long commemoration of the 60th …

10/12/2007 – 8:41 am
| Comments Off on The EU and the International Criminal Court

The Council of the European Union recently published a report on the co-operation and interaction between the EU and the International Criminal Court (ICC) (an English version can be found here). The report highlights in particular how the EU can co-ordinate the foreign policy positions of the EU member States with regard to the activities of the ICC. Furthermore it underlines the commitment of the …

30/11/2007 – 2:57 pm
| Comments Off on ICJ to deliver judgement on 13 December 2007

The International Court of Justice will deliver its judgment in the case concerning the Territorial and Maritime Dispute (Nicaragua v Colombia) on 13 December 2007 (see press release here). The judgment will merely deal with the preliminary objections by Colombia, regarding the jurisdiction of the Court. Stay tuned for an update here on International Law Observer as soon as the judgment has been delivered.

30/11/2007 – 1:33 pm
| Comments Off on Extension of time-limits in the Case between Chile and the EC before the ITLOS (Sustainable Exploration of Swordfish Stocks)

Today the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), or rather the Special Chamber of the ITLOS which was formed by order of 20 December 2000, further extended the time-limits for the Case between Chile and the European Community concerning the Conservation and Sustainable Exploitation of Swordfish Stocks in the South-Eastern Pacific Ocean for one year until 1 January 2009 (the press release can be found here, …

28/11/2007 – 10:37 pm
| Comments Off on International Bar Association publishes new monitoring report on the ICC

The International Bar Association (IBA) recently published a new monitoring report concerning the International Criminal Court (ICC). According to the report itself, “the monitoring programe focus primarily on the fair trial rights of defendants before the Court and the manner in which the Rome Statute, Regulations of the Court and the Rules of Evidence and Procedure are implemented by the different organs of the Court.” The report …

The third biennial Conference of the European Society of International Law will be held in Heidelberg on 4-6 September 2008. This time the conference will be organized in association with the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law. The organizers have chosen “International Law in a Heterogeneous World” as the main topic of the event. A preliminary programme can be found here. …

In July the International Law Observer noted that Serge Brammertz was the probable succesor of Carla Del Ponte as chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Today, Le Monde reports that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has nominated Serge Brammertz for the position. Serge Brammertz had a strong competitor in David Tolbert, deputy chief prosecutor at the ICTY.
Thus, Serge Brammertz will be …

On his monthly column, ASIL president José E. Alvarez recently wrote about the “Democratization of the Invisible College“. The concept of an Invisible College of International Lawyers was first coined by Oscar Schachter (the late Professor of Columbia University Law School) who saw it as “the active professional community of professors, students, government officials and international civil servants”. According to Alvarez, Schachter’s
“invisible college was simply …

11/11/2007 – 4:43 pm
| Comments Off on Blog Readability Test – or: what level of education is required to understand International Law Observer?

Here is an interesting side note: We at International Law Observer certainly understand it as one of our main objectives to contribute to the exchange of ideas in the academic world. So far so good. But what do we really presuppose or even demand from our readers? What level of education is required to understand the contents of International Law Observer? Well, according to the …

Will the USA really ratify the UN Convention for the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)? This question has preoccupied much of the law-related public debate in the USA during the recent days. After the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) on Wednesday last week (31 October) voted 17 to 4 in support of recommending the Senate to accede to the UNCLOS, the issue seems to have caught …

31/10/2007 – 12:05 am
| Comments Off on States need to co-operate more with the International Criminal Court

According to a recent statement of a senior official – ICC Registrar Bruno Cathala -, the International Criminal Court (ICC) needs more co-operation from States. Considering the success of the recent arrest of Germain Katanga and his subsequent transfer to ICC custody (see our previous report) one may wonder, what the actual reason is behind this reminder from the ICC.
According to the ICC Registrar Bruno …

Thanks to a recent post over at OpinioJuris.com my attention was drawn to the fact that the Iraqi government plans to revoke the immunity from prosecution granted to so-called private security companies operating in the country. This immunity is currently based on CPA (Coalition Provision Authority) Order 17. According to a spokesperson, the Iraqi government „decided to scrap the article pertaining to security companies operating …

About the International Law Observer

Welcome to the International Law Observer, a blog dedicated to reports, commentary and the discussion of topical issues in international law. Please make sure to read the latest news and to receive in-depth information in our special coverage section. You have suggestions, comments or ideas? Feel free to contact us!

Copyright notice & disclaimer

Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the contents in any form is prohibited other than with the express permission from the respective author(s).

The information contained on this website is for general information purposes only. The authors of this website make no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to the website or the information contained on the website for any purpose.